1. Field
The following description relates to an apparatus for remotely controlling content on the screen of a device, such as a TV, a PC, a notebook, etc., using a smart phone.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, there are different kinds of devices such as a PC, a mobile phone, a TV, etc. They provide different services, such as web data search, call services, multimedia services, etc., depending on their intrinsic functions and content. However, due to the development of a smart phone and a smart TV, various kinds of content that were provided only by desktop computers are able to be consumed through smart mobile devices. In particular, a smart phone allows a user to receive his or her desired service or to do his or her works anytime, anywhere since the user can always carry the smart phone. Also, smart devices provide users with various kinds of services, such as music, video, news, etc., and connect to other smart devices through a network to offer interactive services.
Recently, as desktop computers, smart TVs, and smart phones can handle various kinds of content, content sharing is required gradually and also especially has drawn attention to home network and Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) technology. However, the technologies are focused on sharing of multimedia content such as music, images, video, or the like. The reason is that multimedia content is preferred content that can be controlled through a simple user interface. However, as a web browser is installed in many smart devices, multimedia, additional information (description, advertisement, games, a messenger, etc.), as well as applications allow users to be used. Therefore, a diversity of web content that can be displayed on the screen of a smart device is increasing. Accordingly, in order to select desired content among various kinds of web content, and share and move the selected content, there is substantial demand for improvement of a user interface.
The main differences of the iPhone and android phones from conventional smart phones are that the iPhone and android phones have an App store and a user interface allowing users to easily and conveniently use content in their mobile phones. In particular, a multi-touch interface allows users to easily zoom in/out or move content of a mobile phone. Recently, researches in technology for easily using three-Dimensional (3D) content-1 based on recognition of multi-touch gestures are also being conducted.
Generally, the multi-touch interface has been applied to a smart phone, a smart pad, and a notebook. Applying the multi-touch interface to an electronic device with a large screen, such as a smart TV, a projector, an electronic display board, etc., is not economical due to high manufacturing costs. In many cases, since such an electronic device with a large screen is remotely controlled, a simple button-type interface such as a remote controller has been used to control the functions of the electronic device. However, as a smart TV allows a web browser to display more various kinds of content on its screen and control more various applications, an integrated remote controller for dealing with such content and applications is needed. Furthermore, in the conventional remote controller, a functional extension of the remote controller was inevitably accompanied by addition of buttons or combinations of button inputs. That is, it will be difficult for a user to handle the controller when functions are added and the structure of the controller is complex. In order to overcome this problem, various technologies, such as an apparatus for recognizing a user's gestures using a camera, an apparatus for location detection using a laser pointer, a method of adding a mouse pad to a remote controller, etc., have been developed. However, these technologies are also quite costly.
An example of such conventional technology is disclosed in Korean Laid-open Patent Application No. 10-2006-0125735, entitled “Universal Remote Control Device with Touch Screen”, and laid-open on Dec. 6, 2006.